EVENTS

Friday, Dec. 14, 2018, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertALEX STURBAUMAs a solo artist, Alex performs his original songs interwoven with traditional music. He has performed solo at festivals throughout the Pacific Northwest, and delights audiences with his heartfelt songs, contagious enthusiasm, and friendly banter. In 2017, Alex released his debut solo album, River Run Wide, featuring eight original songs and three original tunes. Alex is a one-of-a-kind performer. Steeped in musical traditions from both sides of the Atlantic, he is equally comfortable performing for dancers in a crowded grange hall, singing original songs at an intimate house concert, belting out sea shanties at a pub sing, or playing bluegrass music at a festival. Alex’s love for the music and joy in playing it is evident in every note he plays. $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday, Jan. 11, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertPETE SEEGER: THE MAN AND THE MUSICHANK & CLAIRE
Pacific Northwest musical duo Hank and Claire take you back in time with banjo and 12-string guitar to tell stories and sing songs from the activist life of Pete Seeger. The program includes historic photos, rousing singalongs, and backstories for each of them. With banjo and 12-string guitar they sketch the line from Pete’s passion for social justice issues (labor, war, civil rights, and the environment) to the music he inspired. Learn the back stories and sing along with songs like “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and “Turn, Turn, Turn.” $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday, Jan. 18, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertBOB ZENTZ
This concert by Bob Zentz will feature songs and tales of the sea, ships and sailors. He is a singer of songs, old and new, about people, places and times gone by. He is also a player of dozens of the usual (and unusual!) “unplugged” folk instruments, and a collector of stories in verse, a teller of “the tales behind the songs”, a commentator on the ecology of the human spirit and a scholar of the evolution of “homemade music” $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday-Sunday, Jan. 25-27, 2019RAINY CAMP
Rainy Camp is a folk singing weekend retreat now in its 28th year on January 25-27 2019, at Lake Retreat Conference Center Ravensdale, Washington. This is about an hour Southeast from Seattle. This weekend camp features a few dozen workshops, big sings, a concert and intimate late night singing. Plus heated dorm style accommodations and catered food. Registration is open here. Registration is online, as is the choice of accommodations made when you register. For more information, see the web site or call 425-998-6134 (7×24) or email registrar@rainycamp.org

Friday, Feb. 8, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertSMALL POTATOESSmall Potatoes is Jacquie Manning and Rich Prezioso. This Chicago-based duo has been touring on the folk circuit since 1993 and in that time they’ve become sought-after regulars at many clubs, coffeehouses across the U.S. They call themselves eclecto-maniacs and describe their music as “Celtic to Cowboy.” They say it has taken them “years of careful indecision” to come up with a mix of music that ranges from country, blues, and swing to Irish, with songwriting that touches on all of those styles and more. They both sing, they both play guitars and an array of other instruments. They even yodel. Superb musicianship and showmanship, award-winning songwriting, and a strong sense of tradition has made them, as Dirty Linen Magazine once said, “one of the most polished, inventive, and entertaining shows on the circuit.” Listen to songs, watch videos. $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday, March 8, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertBRIAN BOWERSBryan Bowers has become a major artist on the traditional music circuit. He has redefined the autoharp and is also well known as a singer-songwriter. Bryan has a dynamic outgoing personality and an uncanny ability to enchant a crowd in practically any situation. His towering six foot four inch frame can be wild and zany on stage while playing a song like `Dixie’ and five minutes later he can have the same audience singing `Will The Circle Be Unbroken’ in quiet reverence and delight. For nearly three decades, Bryan Bowers has been to the autoharp what Earl Scruggs was to the five-string banjo. He presents instrumental virtuosity combined with warmth, eloquence, expression and professionalism. $15 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday, March 22, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertKEN WALDMANKen Waldman (a.k.a. Alaska’s fiddling poet) draws on his 30 years in Alaska to produce poems, stories, and fiddle tunes to create a performance uniquely his own, described as “haunting and melodic;…like being reminded of our very humanness and all the chances and changes still waiting to be discovered” (Cinthia Ritchie, Anchorage Daily News). He will be joined by some local musicians. A former college professor, Waldman published six full-length poetry collections, a memoir, a children’s book, and released nine CDs that combine old-time Appalachian-style string-band music with original poetry. $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Friday, April 12, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertBrittany & Johnny / $4 SHOEBrittany Newell and Johnny Fitzpatrick are old time music practitioners from Seattle, WA. Both Brittany and Johnny enjoy dabbling in other instruments and singing together. They tend to come together on a random assortment of fiddle tunes, with a few bits of blues, bluegrass and old country songs strewn in as well. $4 Shoe, a southern music duo/trio, consists of Morgan John on banjo & lead vocals and Tom Collicott on guitar and harmony vocals. Now occasionally you may find Morgan playing the fiddle, guitar or uke, and sometimes Tom will be playing the banjo or singing lead. Just to confuse things a bit more these days, you will find Kate Lichtenstein joining them with fine fiddle or guitar playing and singing. $10 donation. 7:30-9:30pm, Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave,Seattle, 436-2960

Sunday, June 9, 2019, 7:30-9:30 pmPacific Northwest Folklore Society Coffeehouse ConcertCLAUDIA SCHMIDT
If you listened to the Prairie Home Companion show in the late ’70s and early ’80s you certainly knew Claudia Schmidt, one of Garrison Keillor’s regular performers. She was ubiquitous, a folk, jazz and blues singer, poet, and multi-instrumentalist – she plays guitar, mountain dulcimer, and quirky instruments such as the pianola. Claudia Schmidt has been perfecting her craft of performing for almost four decades. It is a quirky and wonderful hodge-podge (her word!) of music, poetry, story, laughter. drama, and celebrating the moment. She has always included her original work along with very personal versions of the work of others, what you get is a unique look at the world from someone who says what she sees with clarity, humor, and wonder. Garrison Keillor said “when Claudia sings a song, it stays sung.” Listen to her music. $15 donation, no reservations, come early for a good seat. Couth Buzzard Books Espresso Buono Cafe, 8310 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, 436-2960

Three Ravens - Don Firth

Bob Nelson - For Petes Sake

Bob Nelson remembers Pete Seeger

The Old Fisherman Bob Nelson

Ive been haunted by the story of Pappa Kari, and his eventual death, since I was sixteen. I recently spent time in Westport searching for friends that knew the Kari family. I was successful in locating the grand son-in-law of Pappa Kari who filled me in on some missing details. The story of Pappa Kari needs to be told.

Kitchen Waltz - Kate Power & Steve Einhorn

Inside Everett: Folksinger Bob Nelson

Kate Reardon, City Public Information Director for the City of Everett, Washington, welcomes Bob Nelson to the studio to talk about his life of music. Bob, also a musical archivist, tells the stories of our westward migration, its music and how it evolved as our pioneer ancestors traveled from the east coast to the Puget Sound country.